Enactus Sheffield

Enactus is an international non-profit organization that works with leaders in business and
higher education to mobilize university students to make a difference in their communities
while developing the skills to become socially responsible business leaders. Participating
students form teams on their university campuses and apply business concepts to develop
outreach projects that improve the quality of life and standard of living for people in need. An
annual series of regional and national competitions provides a forum for teams to present the
results of their projects, and to be evaluated by business leaders serving as judges. National
champion teams advance to the ENACTUS World Cup.

At The University of Sheffield, Enactus is one of the most active societies. Housed in the
University of Sheffield’s Enterprise Department, Enactus Sheffield has regular meetings every
week for different ongoing projects. In my first year at university, I thought it was a good idea
to join Enactus and I submitted my application for it. Shortly thereafter, I was called upon and
recruited in the Local Youth Project as an engineer. The project aimed to support the extensive
Somali community present in Sheffield by providing transferrable skills. We aimed at creating a woolen product, for which we designed a storm drain that incorporates woolen insulation to capture water pollutants before heading down to streams and rivers. Regular meetings were held every week in order to get updated on the project and provide key updates to the team regarding the work which was deputed to each member. This storm drain was taken to the Sheffield City Council in order to see if it could be implemented under the current infrastructure. However, our project was not successful as the council did not approve it due to some technical problems.

Nonetheless, Enactus proved to be a very rewarding experience, and one that looked very good on the CV too! It provided an opportunity to speak about the sort of work done in the project at interviews and assessment centres with prospective employers. Several big companies such as GSK ask whether you have been involved with Enactus at any point in your life, therefore it is really good to get involved with Enactus as it provides you with an edge over other applicants.

Joining A Society/Sports Team

By Usman Sami Khan

One of the best things on offer at The University of Sheffield is the most prized Student’s Union, which has been voted number 1 in the UK on numerous occasions. The University of Sheffield’s Students’ Union is home to well over 300 societies and committees, so I hope that you’re able to find one (or a few!) that suit the way you want to spend your free time. Societies are groups of students who enjoy a common interest. Most Sheffield students are involved in societies or sports teams because they’re the best way to make friends, try new things (or carry on your passions) and guarantee a worthwhile experience. You can join societies or sports teams at any time throughout the year, so all you need to do is get in touch with the concerned authorities and get on board!

There is also a chance to start a new society if something which interests you is not on offer at the Students’ Union. The Students’ Union has excellent support and facilities to help students see their ideas come alive and be as successful as possible! There is also a chance to join a committee of your interest and get involved in actually running a society. Committee members are the core team of people who run a society or working/representative committee. You lead, you decide, you publicise, you stress (occasionally), you have fun (always), and of course you make Sheffield Students’ Union ‘number one’ in the UK! As a committee member you may also be able to get your role recognized in the extra-curricular section of your HEAR (Higher Education Achievement Report). Such experiences give you a good chance to write something about in your CV, and also show to prospective employers when applying for graduate jobs and summer internships that you have actually managed a group of people and decided upon things whilst being part of an executive committee.

I have personally been involved as a Secretary for Pakistan Society at The University of Sheffield last year. This experience was very worthwhile and taught me how to effectively deal with a group of people whilst maintaining consideration of the culture and beliefs of the society, catering to different interests that the society members may have. I was also involved with constantly updating the members of the society’s events via newsletters, ensuring that they stay interested in the society. I was also a part of Enactus Sheffield where I was working as an engineer for the Local Youth Project. This project aimed at providing transferable skills to the Somalian community present here at Sheffield by making wool-based products. I, along with my team, designed a storm drain that incorporates woollen insulation to capture water pollutants before heading to streams and rivers. This idea was passed on to Sheffield City Council.

Such experiences with societies and sports teams provide you with a chance to not just work on real-life things, but also make new friends and meet new people from around the world in the process. I think societies and sports teams are definitely one of the most fun things I’ve been involved with since coming to Sheffield, and I would highly encourage you to do so as well if you do decide to come to Sheffield!

Engineering You're Hired Week 2014 - 2015

By Vimanyu Beedasy

Engineering You're Hired is similar to the Global Engineering Challenge, except that second year engineering students take part in it while GEC is only for the first year students. It is an intensive week where students from every engineering discipline get together to work on a project which they have to choose beforehand. Our project title was 'Scavenging Energy from Sewers', one which I chose since it is related to another project I am currently involved in with Enactus Sheffield.

During the week, we had to get up early to reach the university at 09:00 from Monday to Friday. EYH differs from GEC in a way that we are left very much on our own during the day as we work in a team of 6 people towards finding an optimum solution to our project. We were placed in a hub where there were a total of 6 groups, all working on the same project individually.





Our hub room, one large enclosure which lacks oxygen flow, but still one where many laughs were heard across the walls...

The first day, we engaged in some activities to get to know the other members in our hub. I recognised a few faces from the Mechanical Engineering department as well as some other people who I met during other extra-curricular activities, so I knew that I was on track for a pleasant week. I was glad to learn that in our group of 6 people, 3 of us were mechanical engineers and the other 3 were from either the Chemical Engineering or the Civil Engineering department. All of them were very friendly and quite enthusiastic for the project.

Brainstorming - the only limit is your imagination and creativity.

We started our project and had some crazy ideas at first but at the same time we were having a good time talking and getting to know each other. The first day was spent mostly talking about ourselves and our course, and deciding how we wanted this week to go and what we aimed at. After every day we had hub boardroom meetings to discuss about the progress of our project. Our board directors were quite strict and harsh with us the first day, but we were told it was for a good cause – not often do interviews go pleasantly.

Our storyboard - Summary of our project plan for the whole week.

In addition to boardroom meetings, as a group we were given a question to answer every afternoon. These questions came directly from the website of some companies who are recruiting students or people to work as part of their application process. One of them was: “Describe a situation where you had to negotiate with and convince an individual/a team of people to see a different point of view or develop an idea they were not initially in favour of. How did you communicate your point of view and go about convincing them?” As someone who is still currently applying to some companies for internships, I believe that it will be very helpful to those who will be applying in the future.

Our hub director, going through the questions we answered in the afternoon and spotting what could be improved. And the much needed coffee for the 09:00 every day.

As the days went by, it got tiring to wake up early and stay at the University until 17:00, but in the end I believe that it was worth it as it was a new experience where you meet people from different backgrounds and departments. Additionally, it helps build up your team working skills as well as your communication and presentation skills.

Towards the end, on Thursday we had to submit our final report of the whole project. It was a task which put some pressure on the other members of the team but altogether using online software such as Google Docs, we managed to work efficiently to finalise the report. On Friday, we had to present our final solution to some industrial experts as if we were to sell our idea in the real world. It was a different way of presenting a solution as this time we needed to be even more convincing and be ready to fight-off every drawbacks.

Snapshot of the presentation and the industrial mentors paying attention to the group presenting - they were harsh.

Even though some of us thought that this week would not be so useful, we were quite pleased with the outcome in the end. In some way or the other, we had learnt something which will be helpful to each one of us in the future and, best of all, we broadened our network of friends. I asked a couple of my team members about their experiences and they said:

“I was initially sceptical about the whole week, especially after finishing exams a couple of days back, but I actually enjoyed it.” – Kyle Farrell

“It offers people with a chance to improve their application to placements and also improve their group working skills.” – Alexander Hesketh

“Awesome." – Lik Hang Hugo Tse